Ettore Marchiafava

Ettore Marchiafava was born in Rome on 3 January 1847 to Francesco Marchiafava and Marianna Vercelli. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Rome (later called the Sapienza University of Rome) in 1872. He is best known for his work on malariology with Angelo Celli. Additionally, he was the first to describe the meningococcus, the bacterium responsible for meningitis, in cerebrospinal fluid, and also identified and described conditions such as syphilitic cerebral arteritis and the neurodegenerative effects of alcoholism, now known as Marchiafava-Bignami disease. He was awarded honorary fellowship for the role he played during WWI. He died in Rome on 22 October 1935.